A New Tale of a Twisted Soul
by Meanken
Summary: Takes place at the end of SC5 and at the beginning of MK9. After Tira's long plan finally comes to fruition, she finds herself in a strange new world. The world of Mortal Kombat. How will her presence effect the altered timeline? Story is focused on Tira with appearances from the various Mortal Kombat characters.
1. Prologue: Through the Eyes of Madness

Hey there, this is going to be my first attempt at writing a fanfic. This will be focused on my favorite character from the Soul Calibur games, Tira, as she finds herself in the world of Mortal Kombat just prior to the beginning of MK9. I'm going to try my best to fit her into the events of the storyline, and that will probably involve some minor alterations to the plot. However, the major events of the storyline will likely remain the same. This first chapter is mostly just setup and characterization stuff, she'll find herself in the MK universe starting in the next chapter. Feedback is of course welcome. Given both the main character this is focused on and the fact that this takes place in the MK universe, this story will be rated T. Expect blood and some language. Hope you enjoy.

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Prologue-Through the Eyes of Madness

17 years. It had been 17 long years since her master had fallen to the spirit sword, Soul Calibur. 17 years of loneliness. 17 years of work, so many times worrying that her efforts would fail, and that she would lose all purpose in her life. She had killed so many people for her master. She had taken so many souls to him, to the being she had sworn herself to. To the one single being that she had ever felt understood her.

Soul Edge.

She still remembered the first time she had heard about it. She had been wandering Europe for some time, killing those she had happened across in her wanderings. It was the only thing that had ever brought her happiness. She had ventured into a small town. She had been bored, so horribly bored, and she had not happened onto any unlucky travelers to kill that day. So she snuck into the town, intending to kill at least one person. But she had not expected what she saw that day.

It was an image that would stick with her for the rest of her life. Buildings had been set blaze. People of all sorts, be they warriors in armor or woman and children, had been killed. No, killed was not the right word. Slaughtered. That was a better description. The ground was soaked with their blood. She could hear the cries of those who had not yet perished, the pained screams of despair and agony. To her twisted mind, the scene was one of serene beauty.

She had to know who was responsible for this. She had to learn his name, had to find him. For the first time, she felt like she had found someone who might understand her, who might accept her for who she was. Someone who wouldn't call her names, who wouldn't hurtle insults at her on sight or call her a monster just for doing what she enjoyed. She dropped from the tree she had been perched on, and walked into the city, her giant ring blade in hand. Practically bouncing with joy, she wandered over to one of those warriors who was still alive.

"Hey, mister, who did this to you?" She asked, her childlike voice practically brisling with joy. The man she had addressed had not noticed her enthusiasm, so busy was he choking on his own blood. However, after a moment, he managed to choke out a single sentence.

"The wielder of Soul Edge….The Azure Knight, Nightmare…" The man coughed suddenly, blood coming out of his mouth. However, he was not in pain for much longer, as Tira's blade descended onto the man, ending what little remained of his life.

"Oh, goody!" She said in that same childlike voice. "I have to find him, I have to meet him!" She looked down on the dead man, taking in the sight of his broken body and smiling at the sight of it. Then she turned to the rest of the burning town. "But first…I'm going to finish this masterpiece. They will all bleed for me." She said, her voice changing into a raspy voice dripping with anger and rage. Even before her mind had been broken, she had always had mood swings, always in danger of going from playful joy to gloomy anger at any moment.

For the next several hours, she had the time of her life, first slaughtering everyone still drawing breath in the town. Then she perched herself up on a tree, and watch the town burn to the ground. It wasn't until troops from the next town over showed up that she left the area. There was no question of what she would do next. She had to find him. It took her a while. She had to gather information about the man, find his location, and that was not easy. She had never really fit in with the normal humans. Her unusual purple eyes, the poor excuses for clothing she usually had on, and of course the ring blade she dragged with her everywhere tended to make people wary of her. Usually she preferred it that way, in the rare event she even had to walk among other people without killing someone. She hated people, hated the noise they made, hated their weakness, hated them for being different.

Eventually she had managed to track down the location of the man. She traveled to his castle, and threw herself before him. She swore herself to the service of her new master, Soul Edge, and its host Nightmare. In return, it has bestowed some of its power onto her. Her master had taught her how to take the souls of the dead, deadened her aging, and tasked her with the deaths of those who stood against the evil sword. She had served faithfully, stood by her master's side even when all the others who had agreed to serve him betrayed him. It wasn't love, not truly. She had never been really capable of feeling that mysterious emotion. But with Soul Edge, she had a purpose. Someone who approved of her killings, someone who she felt truly understood her.

The day he had fallen was the worst day of Tira's life. By then, her mind had already shattered, her joyful and gloomy moods splitting into completely separate personalities. She would never forget looking onto the broken sword, the dead suit of armor that had held the essence of Soul Edge. Both of her minds screamed with rage and sadness. The one being that had ever truly understood her was dead. She fled into the night, hiding in the shadows like the twisted monster she had become. The joy of the common people only made her even more distraught. She could hear their laughter, their joy as they went about their day to day business. It would have enraged her that they could be so happy when she was not, had she been in her normal state of mind. As it was, she was so distraught she was that she could not even bring herself to kill them. Instead, she fled civilization completely, living off of rats and whatever animals she could find.

Days, weeks, months, she lost track of how long it had been. She knew only despair, a pathetic shell of her former self. But that changed one day. She felt a presence, one she had not felt since the death of her master. She felt the aura of Soul Edge. Confused, she looked around, trying to find the source. Then she knew. She reached for her pocket, digging franticly for the shard of Soul Edge she had kept on her. It had been given to her so that she could use it to locate other shards of her master, to make him more complete, more powerful. Ever since her master's death, it had been dead, nothing more than another piece of metal. But now it had come back to life. She felt the aura resonating inside of her, and her hopes were renewed. Her master was still alive! There was still a chance that she could bring him back!

And so she began her preparations. She would need two things, two very important things. One, she needed to find and assemble the shattered shards of Soul Edge, which had been scattered to the four winds ever since her master's death. Two, she needed a new host. The last one had rebelled against the sword, and that rebellion had weakened it. She would need a more suitable host this time. However, she had one in mind. A girl, who had been born with the taint of Soul Edge inside of her. Tira had located her before, when her master was still alive and she had been tasked with finding a replacement host. But the girl had been young. Too young. At the time she didn't have the luxury of waiting. But now she had time. All the time in the world. She could mold her, shape her, and make her the perfect host of Soul Edge.

This task consumed much of the next 17 years. It was not an easy process. The shards were not as strong as they once were, and locating them proved much more tasking then she had thought. Plus she had to be mindful of her new charge. The girl who would become the new host of Soul Edge. She had proven to be a spineless weakling, barely capable of killing even in self-defense, let alone on her own. Tira has to mold her. She made great pains to ensure her new charge was reliant on only her. She would go out, frame her for various crimes, turn the townsfolk against her, and then appear. A dark fairy godmother of sorts, she guided her charge, manipulated her into doing exactly what she wanted.

It was not easy. Even with all her efforts, the girl still maintained some spark of hope, some hope that the humans would accept her for who she was. Tira, broken as she was by her own experiences with the humans, never believed that it was possible. Nor did she really care at that stage. The humans had taken from her the only being that had ever understood her. Why should any of them get to be happy? What right did they have to happiness and hope, when they had taken away her own?

There was a moment when she thought that she would no longer need the girl. She had been keeping the collected shards of Soul Edge hidden away. She was careful not to keep them on her person. She didn't want to be possessed by the sword. She wanted to serve it, but not like that. She wanted to be by its side as the world burned. But another had stumbled onto the shards, and been possessed in turn. Tira, while more than a little annoyed that her efforts with the girl had been wasted, was overjoyed at the return of her master. She abandoned the girl, left and ran for the master's new castle.

But it had been a lie. The man who had taken up the sword was not her master. He was different. He wanted to work in the shadows. Steal souls quietly. Negotiate with the humans. She despised the new, cowardly Nightmare. She cursed his name, swore to end his miserable existence. She left, relocated the girl she had claimed as her own. She had become a servant girl to another man, who had fallen for her. She was to be wed to him. The girl had finally found the happiness she had sought.

Tira knew that she had to crush that hope, that happiness. And so she acted. It was easy, really. A quiet infiltration of the mansion, the slit throat of the man while he lay in a bed next to the girl, a bloody sword placed in her hand. That glimmer of hope she had felt was crushed as she was dragged to the dungeons in chains. Tira reappeared, as she always did, to "save" her. And so the trail of blood and fire continued as the duo continued along their dark path. Tira had one last manipulation to make, one last play to make to break the girl.

The last part was truly the easiest. The girl had a brother. A hard headed idiot who mercilessly killed anyone who he perceived as "Malfested", the word the common people had come to use to refer to people like Tira and her charge, the monsters in the night they feared. She quietly told her charge that she had discovered him, guided her to him. She let them bond for a bit. It was all part of the plan. Then the truth came out. The brother learned of his sister's malfestation. Tira knew he would reject her after that. It never even crossed her mind that he might do otherwise, that he might choose to accept her for who she was. And in the end, her cynical thoughts were proven correct, as the idiot acted just as she had thought he would.

The girl had been broken completely by this final betrayal. Her last, final hope shattered into a thousand pieces, she latched onto Tira completely. And so Tira guided her to her destiny. She manipulated other, stupider people into ending the life of the imposter Nightmare. And when he was dead, she led her to the evil sword. Standing next to it on the castle battlements, she motioned to it for the girl.

"Take it." She said. "It's yours. No one will ever be able to hurt you again once you have the power of this sword in your hand."

Nodding silently, the girl dropped her old sword. She reached out, her clawed hand wrapping around the sword's hilt. A red aura surrounded the girl as the sword took hold of her mind. Tira laughed in joy, her plan finally coming to completion. She skipped away a little, giving room for her master to work. Guided by Soul Edge, the girl reached up with the sword, tearing a hole in the sky as she opened a portal. Tira was unsure what, exactly she was doing, but now her master was in control, so she was not worried. Her master knew what it was doing.

Tira was unsure exactly what happened next. Perhaps the act of tearing a hole in the sky had distorted reality somehow in the nearby area. She was no expert in the exact workings of the evil sword. She only wanted to serve it, to see its vision come to fruition. All she knew was that one moment she was looking at the girl, a smile on her face. The next, she was falling, falling into the void.


	2. Chapter 1: A New Challenger Approaches

Ok, now we get into the crossover proper. And because this is the world of Mortal Kombat, it's going to take all of 5 minutes before Tira finds herself in battle.

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Chapter 1-A New Challenger Appears

Shang Tsung sat in his chair inside his island fortress. The time had come at last. The next Mortal Kombat tournament was about to begin, and this one would be the most important one yet. If Outworld won this tournament, then they would be able to absorb Earthrealm and take it over. A plan over 500 years in the making. Shao Kahn had placed his trust in Shang Tsung, and he did not intend to fail. He had done his best to stack the odds in favor of Outworld. Now all that was left was for the tournament to commence. Shang Tsung watched from a balcony as the various Earthrealm warriors arrived. Silently, he evaluated each of them in turn.

First was a man in a blue suit, a man who had black sunglasses on. Jonny Cage. An actor. He had some skill, it was undeniable. But he would not last long in the tournament. Next was a woman. Sonya Blade. Shang Tsung stroked his long, white beard as he saw her. Here for her CO, Jackson Briggs, and the mercenary Kano. Just as planned. She too would be of little threat. A man in blue garb was next, Sub Zero. One of the last of the Cyromancers. A formidable warrior, but Quan Chi had assured him that Scorpion would be more then up to the task of eliminating him. So he dismissed him as a threat. Two other men accompanied him, one a man in yellow, another a man in red. Fellow Lin Kuei members. Shang Tsung doubted they would get past the first round.

It was the last two that truly interested Shang Tsung. A man with a straw hat, the thunder god Raiden, and the man he was accompanying, Liu Kang. Raiden was here only as an observer, and would not be partaking in this tournament. It was the other one who drew Shang Tsung's attention. Raiden had apparently chosen to place his faith in him to win the tournament. He may need to be dealt with. But it would not do to act rashly. He may still be eliminated before that became a necessity.

Just then, Shang Tsung's attention was draw by something. A disturbance of some sort. Magical in nature. Sensing the disturbance, he was able to tell that this disturbance was similar to his own portals that he often used to travel between realms. An intruder on the island, one from another realm? Interesting. It warranted a closer look. Shang Tsung readied a spell. He would go to investigate this disturbance, but first he wanted to collect someone to bring with him, in the event that Kombat was required. Shang Tsung had no interest in fighting himself unless forced to.

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Tira awoke to find herself on a long bridge. With a muttered curse, she dragged herself off of the ground, getting back up. She saw her ring blade a few feet away, and walked over to pick it up. A smile came to her lips as she felt the familiar weapon in her hand. Then she started looking around. It was nighttime, and the moon was full, shining bright in the sky, giving Tira enough light to see where she was going. Not that there was much to see, being just a bridge. Questions began to form in her head, questions she addressed to the other voice in her head.

"Where are we? What happened to the castle?"

" **How should I know?** " Her Gloomy side replied. " **I know as much as you do. Something happened, something unexpected. We had won, Soul Edge had returned. And then I don't remember anything else. So goddamn irritating!** "

"Hey, do you think we'll find something to kill around here?" Her Jolly side asked, promptly going off tangent. "I really want to kill something right now."

" **Focus! Right now, we need to figure out where we are, how we can get out of here and back to Soul Edge. We need…** "

It was at that moment that Tira's inner thoughts were interrupted by another voice from behind her. "Well, hello there." Tira, who had been sure that no one was behind her a second ago, spun around quickly, taking up her combat stance as she faced the man who spoke. Tira saw immediately that he was a really old looking man, who she guessed to be Chinese. Very strange, considering she had thought she was still somewhere in Hungary at the very least, a country not known for having very many old Chinese men. She couldn't have gone _that_ far. Next to him was a strange man, with yellow skin and really, really big teeth. And he didn't even have lips, which was weird. Did someone cut them off? Such a strange man naturally drew her attention.

"Oh, you look kind of funny." Tira said as she placed her ring blade behind her, leaning back on it casually. "What's wrong? Are you sick?" The man howled with apparent rage, causing Tira to smile. Maybe she would get to kill someone today after all. Before she could act, however, the first man threw his arm in front of the strange man, stopping him from attacking.

"He is not sick, girl." The man said. "I am Shang Tsung, and I rule this island. Tell me, how is it that you came to be here?" This question caused a surge of anger in Tira. Her body suddenly went limp as her body slumped over, almost as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. Her eyes went from a wide eyed joy to a cold, angry glare as her Gloomy side took over control of her body.

" **I was going to ask you the same thing.** " She said in her raspy voice. " **Where am I? Why the hell am I here?** "

The man stroked his stupidly long white beard for a moment as he appeared to be considering what she said. Then he spoke again. "So, you don't know where you are? Interesting. You appear to be human, but the method by which you came to be here suggests that you are not from Earthrealm. Which realm are you from?"

The talk of realms naturally confused Tira, and this confusion only enraged her Gloomy side even more. " **What the hell are you talking about? Stop speaking nonsense, or I'll gut you like a fish and find someone who I can understand to answer my questions!** " This prompted another growl of rage from the funny man, and a chuckle from the old man. " **What the hell is so goddamn funny?** "

"I have a proposal for you, girl. But first, I must see your skills. Your blade is very strange. I have not seen anything like it before. I trust you know how to use it. Show me." He turned to the funny man. "Baraka. Test her."

Tira's Jolly side took back over as Baraka stepped forward. "Oh, you wanna fight? Ok! But, where's your weapon? You're not one of those sillyheads that only uses his fists, are you?"

"I am a weapon!" Baraka screamed. Then suddenly two very long blades came out of his arms, extending almost to the ground. Tira's eyes widened, first in shock, and then in glee.

"Oh goody, this is going to be so much fun!" Baraka did not respond to this, instead opting to attack. He ran at Tira, aiming a slash of his blades for her midsection. Tira twisted her ring blade to block the attack, then retaliated with a low slash of her own blade, which was in turn blocked. This back and forth continued for a few moments until, after another of his strikes had been blocked, Baraka aimed a kick at Tira. Seeing the move coming, Tira hoped backward, while spinning her ring blade in front of her to cover her move. This managed to score a glancing blow, hitting Baraka's leg. He roared in pain, although the blow did not appear to be hampering his movement.

With the kombat having been brought to a momentary lull, Tira took the opportunity to continue to taunt her opponent. "Is that all you got, Baka? You're boring me!" Baraka responded poorly to this taunt, and suddenly jumped into the air, covering the distance between them and aiming a kick at Tira's head. Tira, not expecting such a move, took the hit and was knocked backward, sliding across the bridge for a few feet before coming to a stop. However, this blow to her head caused her to shift to her Gloomy personality. As Baraka would soon find out, this would change more than just her personality.

She got up off the ground and glared at Baraka, who was wasting no time in continuing the attack, as he slashed at Tira's throat. Tira blocked the attack, then grabbed her ring blade with both hands. Holding it up near her head, she aggressively lunged at Baraka, striking aggressively with her entire body weight behind the blow. Baraka grunted as he blocked the much stronger attack, the height of the strike forcing him to move his blades up to head level to block. However, Tira was not done yet, right as he blocked the attack and was still recoiling from the impact, Tira lowered the blade to her midsection and let go. Swinging the blade along her body like a hula hoop, she sliced into Baraka's undefended body numinous times as the blade also sliced into her own body, pain which Tira did not even feel, having long since gotten used to the pain her blade delivered onto her. With a final, furious loop, she kicked Baraka away, and grabbed the blade again.

Baraka fell to the ground, growling with pain and anger at the blood that now adorned his chest. Tira pressed the attack by leaping high into the air. Spinning wildly, she came down at Baraka, aiming to bisect him while he was still on the ground. But Baraka was not about to go down that easily. He rolled to the side, letting the blade impact where he was a second ago. With furious strength, he kicked Tira with both legs, knocking her back into the air. Then he sprang to his feet and smashed Tira with his fist, sending her toward the edge of the bridge. Tira's ring blade was sent clattering away toward Shang Tsung, who had been watching the fight with an unreadable expression on his face.

Tira only saved herself from falling by managing to catch on to the edge of the bridge with one hand. Baraka laughed as he approached Tira, preparing to finish her. Tira, looking for a way out of this situation, made the mistake of looking down. Down about a hundred feet, she saw a giant bed of blood adorned spikes, all of which were waiting to end her life if she fell.

"Yikes!" She yelled as she saw the spikes. However, as she continued to look down at the remainder of the bridge and the spikes below, a plan formed in her mind. She waited as Baraka stopped and readied his blade to slice her wrist. As his blade descended toward her, she made the unexpected move to let go of the ledge. Sparks flew as the blade collided with the bridge. Baraka roared with triumph as the girl fell. Unfortunately for him, she had caught onto another spike that had been coming off of the bridge just below her. The pointy spike would have cut into her hands if she didn't have on armored gloves, for which she was now grateful. Using the spike as leverage, she started spinning herself around it, gathering momentum. Once she had enough, she let go and propelled herself upward.

Meanwhile, Baraka had turned his back to where Tira had fell and looked over at Shang Tsung. "Pathetic weakling!" He shouted. "Do not waste my time with nonsense again, Sorcerer!" Shang Tsung, who saw Tira flipping back over the edge of the bridge, simply raised his eyebrow. Tira, running silently at Baraka's back, delivered a swift kick to Baraka's back, aiming so that he would be knocked off the bridge like she had a moment ago. Baraka, who had no chance to react, screamed with rage as he was sent over the edge. Tira ran over to the edge, eager to see the annoying man get killed. However, about halfway down, a green swirly looking thing appeared and ate him. Tira was confused until she heard a grunt next to her as Baraka his the ground next to Shang Tsung. She walked over, hands on her hips and clearly annoyed.

"Hey, what's the big deal, Shangy? I wanted to see him on those spikes!" Shang Tsung chuckled a bit and clapped.

"You fight very well, girl, as I expected. But I had not expected you to defeat Baraka. Alas, Baraka is to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament, and so I cannot allow you to quench your bloodlust on him." Shang Tsung waved his hand and opened another portal, then pointed to Baraka. "Leave us. Heal your wounds and prepare for tomorrow." With a grunt, Baraka left, but not before glaring at Tira, who returned the glare by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Now then, we have much to discuss, you and I." He waved his hand, closing the portal and opening another. "What is your name, girl?"

"My name is Tira!" She said as she walked over and picked back up her ring blade. "Are you going to give me someone else to play with? I wanna kill someone today!"

"All will be explained, but I can promise you will have your fill of blood. Now then, come with me." Shang Tsung motioned to the portal, indicating for Tira to step through. Without much else to really do, Tira followed him through the portal.


	3. Chapter 2: Tea with a Side of Exposition

Ok bit of a shorter chapter here. Now it's time for a nice exposition dump as Tira learns how the world of Mortal Kombat works. Going to try to make this not too dry and wooden here, as this is one of those chapters that has the potential to get boring really quickly, particularly for fans of the series who are probably already familiar with this stuff.

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Chapter 2-Tea with a Side of Exposition

Shang Tsung and Tira emerged from the green portal inside of Shang Tsung's tower residence. The room they found themselves in, designed for entertaining the rare guest Shang Tsung had within, was a room with enough opulence to shame even the richest of men. Every piece of furniture, from the hand crafted silk rugs, to the elaborate carved wood of the table, to the solid gold plating that covered the table, was designed to impress.

On Tira, however, this was lost. She cared nothing for pointless material possessions. The girl had never owned anything other than the torn clothes on her back and her ring blade. She never cared to own anything else. Blood and death was all that had ever given her happiness, and so she failed to understand the point of it all. She did so enjoy spattering blood all over the expensive stuff whenever she killed one of those rich assholes, however.

She was driven out of her thoughts by the sound of a voice. The man was asking her something.

"Er, could you say that again, Shangy?"

"I said that you should have a seat." He repeated, motioning to a chair.

"Oh, er….I think I'll stand." Tira, ever cautious as she was, was not about to sit down and risk lowering her guard around the unknown man. He seemed friendly enough at the moment, but the fact remained that he'd sent some freak to try to kill her not 5 minutes after meeting her. This act, while entertaining, had done little to warm her to the man. So she leaned backward on her ring blade as Shang Tsung took a seat and reached for a kettle that had been set up.

"I don't suppose you want some tea, then?" When his only response was a glare from Tira as she shifted to her gloomy personality, he poured himself a cup and sipped it.

 **"Stop wasting my time and get on with it! Where am I?"**

"A good question. You are currently on my island, which is situated between the realms of Earthrealm and Outworld." Another glare from Tira conveyed the message that she understood none of what he had just said. "Ah, yes, I forgot. Think of a realm as….another place. One that cannot be traveled to by normal means. I am unsure which realm you come from, but I have been to many of them, so it should not be hard to figure out. Tell me, where do you last remember being?"

Tira rolled her eyes in annoyance. **"I was at a castle in Hungary. There was a very large battle going on for it at the time, and I need to get back there _now_. You say you can travel between these damn realms, yes? So you can take me there?"**

"Earthrealm, then." Shang Tsung said as he took another sip of tea. Then he raised an eyebrow as she elaborated. "A battle for a castle, you say? But no one in Earthrealm cares enough for those anymore to send invading armies." He took a moment to think, then froze, his cup halfway to the table. "No...it couldn't be...girl, what year do you think it is in Earthrealm?"

 **"What kind of a stupid question is that? its 1607, you idiot!"**

Shang Tsung, for the briefest moment, had a look of pure shock on his face, which he quickly covered up. "Then it is true. Somehow you have managed to physically cross not only the barrier between realms, but time as well." Shang Tsung rose from his seat and walked over to the balcony, looking down on the island. That the sorcerer was now in a position where he could easily be shoved off of said balcony was not a fact that escaped Tira. "I must know how. How did you manage such a feat?"

Tira's response to this question, considering how angry she was growing, was rather subdued. She reached over and grabbed some stupid looking vase and heaved it directly at the back of the sorcerer's head. Shang Tsung, for his part, only turned around, leaned to the side, and grabbed the vase out of midair before it went hurtling off the balcony.

 **"If I knew how the hell I got here, then why the hell would I be asking you to take me back!?"** She yelled, growing very close to just slaughtering the man and finding another way back. Shang Tsung ignored her anger and looked her in the eyes, not appearing in the least bit perturbed by her angry glare.

"I am willing to help you return to your own time. Learning how to perform such an act would be...invaluable to me." He said, vastly understating both how much learning how to time travel would help him, and the chances of him being able to pull off such a feat even with someone who had already traveled was, which even he admitted was slim to none at best. But he was more than willing to lie to the girl and tell her what she clearly wanted to hear if it meant securing her temporary services. "However, I will require something in return."

"Oh, oh, let me guess!" Tira said, shifting to her Jolly personality. "You want me to kill someone!"

"It may come to that, yes. Allow me to explain the situation. You have come at a time of great importance to both Earthrealm and Outworld. Perhaps this is not a coincidence…" Shang Tsung mused to himself for a second before continuing. "Tomorrow marks the start of the Mortal Kombat tournament. Warriors from both realms have assembled here to compete. Should Earthrealm lose this Tournament, Outworld will take over the realm and absorb it into their own."

"Oh, so you want me to fight in this tournament thingy?" Shang Tsung shook his head.

"No, unfortunately you cannot fight for Outworld, as you are not native to the realm. However, while this prevents your participation in the tournament, this also means you are not bound by the rules of Mortal Kombat." Shang Tsung quickly held up a hand to stop Tira as she began to open her mouth again. "And no, I do not want you to kill the other competitors. Not right now. You will be my hidden blade, so to speak. You will watch, observe the competitors, and maybe convince one or two of them that you are friendly." He said, sounding a little skeptical at the last part. "If Outworld wins with no trouble, then you will not be needed. If someone proves to be a nuisance, then you will eliminate them."

"Erm…..ok, sure! I can do that! And then you'll help me get back?"

"I shall do all that I can." He said as he waved his hand to open another portal. "Now then, leave. The tournament starts tomorrow."

Tira started to walk into the portal, then turned, her eyes narrowing again. **"Just so you know, I'm keeping my eye on you. If you try anything funny, try to back out on your side of the deal, betray me? Then I promise you, you will die screaming in agony."** With that threat delivered, Tira entered the portal and left.


	4. Chapter 3: Method Acting

So after a long gap (Thank you college/gaming for distracting me), I am giving this another update. Today we take a break from the seriousness of fighting and random exposition to have ourselves a few laughs as Tira meets everyone's favorite actor.

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Chapter 4-Method Acting

Tira, after being deposited outside of Shang Tsung's residence by the portal, had wandered away to find somewhere to sleep for the night. It had not taken long for her to find a nice, out of the way tree for her to climb into. She sat in the branches, staring at the full moon that had hovered over the area. It was at that moment that a black raven flew onto the branch next to her. She turned to look at it, smiling.

"Oh, hi! Are you tired and bored too, little guy?"

She had always like birds, ravens in particular. She had never really been able to put her finger quite on why, at least not in a way she could express to anyone else. Perhaps she saw something of herself in the winged birds, their black feathers that matched her natural black hair color, the fact that they never judged her for what she did like the humans did, or maybe just the fact that they, like her, just wanted to be free to do whatever they wanted. Her thoughts turned dark as she looked on the bird, remembering those bastards who had one of the most beautiful ravens she had ever laid eyes on, and how they had locked him in a cage to languish. How they had yelled and screamed at her after she had let it out, their faces as their screams of rage turned to screams of pain as her blade ripped them apart like…..

"Well, today must be my lucky day!"

Tira's thoughts were shattered as she heard a voice from below, and she looked down at the source, some stupid looking shirtless man with dark sunglasses on. Her smile changed to a scowl of pure anger as he smirked and continued.

"It's not every day I come out to train for a shoot and find a hot babe! I know, shocking, coming from me, you'd think I have so many babes trying to get their hands on me that I could never get away from them. And you'd be right, of course."

Tira hopped out of the tree, clutching her rind blade in her hand as she hunched over, glaring at the oblivious man. **"Who the hell are you?"**

He laughed at this, only irritating her further. "Johnny Cage is the name. As seen in such movies as Massive Strike, Citizen Cage, Ninja Mime, and others."

Tira tilted her head to the side at this as her expression changed from rage to confusion. "Huh? What's...er, a movie?"

This caused Johnny to hesitate a moment, clearly unsure how to take this question. "What's a movie? Are you serious?" He scratched his head. "Er, what did you say your name was?"

"I'm Tira!" She said as she leaned forward on her blade.

"Tira, ok. Love that outfit, by the way, really pulling off that primal savage look, and it's nice and sexy to boot." He said as he motioned to the rags that passed as clothing for her. "Never seen a blade like that. You in the tournament tomorrow?"

Tira frowned at this question. "No, and that's really annoying, I'm really getting bored. I wanna kill something already!" She tilted her head as she looked Cage over. "Hmm. You don't look all that tough, but I guess you'll do."

Cage laughed as he took a cautious step backward before realization dawned behind his sunglasses. "Oh! Oh, I get it now!"

Tira blinked in confusion. "You do?"

"Sure, sure I do! You're method acting! Getting into character before the fights start! I know a few guys who do that sometimes. You, clearly, are playing the hot villain who's a bloodthirsty animal, but after getting beaten by the charming hero, you'll have a change of heart, and fall in love with the hero, that is me. Then, depending on if the director has another love interest set up, you'll sacrifice yourself to save me at a critical moment, or survive and marry the hero in the epilogue. It's a classic storyline."

Tira, now completely baffled, could only scratch her head in confusion. Before she could get past this confusion and fulfill her bloodlust, her other half spoke a warning in her head.

" **Remember what that old man said. We can't kill anyone involved in this tournament thing right now."**

"But he's being really weird and confusing!"

" **I'm not sure what he's talking about. But I don't think it matters. He likes us. I think we can use him until we are allowed to kill him. Let me handle this."** Tira hunched over as she looked at the man with an apathetic expression.

" **I'm not sure what the hell you're talking about. But, if you want to have some fun later, then I suppose I'm willing. I would love to watch you scream and beg as I chop you to pieces. I need some entertainment in this weird place, after all."**

"Er….wow, you're really good at making those threats sound real." Cage said as he took another unconscious step backward, unaware that the threat was all too real but unsettled by the sheer anger in her voice nonetheless. "But, that's a date, right? I think that's the best I'm getting while you're in method actor mode. Here's my card, sweetie." He said as he reached into his pants and pulled out a laminated card with his number on it, which of course meant nothing to Tira. "See you tomorrow!" He said as he turned and left. Tira scratched her head again.

"He's a really silly guy. I can't wait to cut him open!" As she said this, the black raven from the tree flew down and perched itself on her shoulder. She reached up to pet it, smiling again. "Don't you think he's silly too?" It screeched back at her in reply. One of the nicer things her master had done for her was to show her how to speak to birds and use them as spies to watch people of interest. Thanks to this, Tira was able to understand the bird, and laughed at what it "said".

"Ohh, you should stay with me tonight! It's gonna me lonely otherwise, you know?" She said as she started climbing back into the tree. "I had a lot of you guys helping me out back home. I kinda miss them, but if I found you, I can find other ravens too. What do you think, would you wanna help me with that?" The raven screeched in reply again. "Ohh, I'm glad. Now, we should get some sleep, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 4: The Tournament Begins

For our next scene, we finally get into the main event of Mortal Kombat. Because this story is from Tira's prospective and I don't feel like writing out every fight, I'm gonna handwave over stuff she's not directly involved in (You'll see what I mean here). The opening ceremony is mostly an invention of mine to handwave why it's nighttime by the time the first rounds start during the game itself, which I'm trying to stick to as much as possible, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume something like them is a thing for it. All those guys in the front row had to be doing something beforehand, right?

Also, I note a couple of people who went and followed this, thanks to you guys, hope you continue to enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter 4-The Tournament Begins**

The next day proved to be quite boring for Tira, despite her expectations. She had taken a position on the wall surrounding the arena to get a good view of the matches. She had been lead to believe this was going to be a day consisting of dudes getting the snot pounded out of each other and copious amounts of blood, much like the gladiatorial contests she had watched and sometimes jumped into the middle of in her own world. Sadly, this was not quite the case, as the first half of the day consisted of opening ceremonies, random people in yellow robes chanting in some language she did not know, lots of loud gongs being smashed, and boring monologues about the "Importance" of this event, boring historical infodumps Tira fell asleep for, and other such things. Luckily she woke back up in time to see the beginning of the fights themselves, noting with annoyance it was already nighttime again by the time they finally got to it.

The first guy to get called up to fight was that annoying asshole from yesterday, Jonny Cage. Tira smiled, looking forward to him getting his head ripped off. Sadly for her, this was not the case, as he somehow managed to win against both of his opponents. One was some weird green thing named Reptile that appeared out of this air somehow (Tira not knowing enough about animals to make the connection between him and chameleons) and spat some ikky looking green acid. The other was the yellow Baraka guy from yesterday. Tira laughed as he was knocked to the ground in the final blow of the match. Cage, as he had before, started babbling about things she did not understand.

"My producer has got to meet you, we're doing Tommy Scissorfists and..."

He was, however, interrupted by Shang Tsung

"Congratulations, Mr Cage. Now, FINISH HIM!"

Cage turned to him, looking confused. "Finish him? Ha...ya right." He said weakly.

"KILL HIM!" Shang Tsung yelled louder. Tira scooted forward a little, wanting to get a good view of Baraka getting his face smashed in, and the arena fell into a silence as everyone waited for the killing blow. After a good 5 seconds, Cage spoke.

"Woh...I'm not going to kill anyone!" He said, holding up his hands. This, of course, annoyed Tira, who had been looking forward to the evenings first kill, and she choose to make her displeasure known by booing loudly, causing a few heads to turn and look at her with raised eyebrows. Shang Tsung took it better.

"Very well." He rose from his seat. "The tournament will resume at dawn!"

"What? That's it? I waited all day for two fights!?" Tira yelled again, drawing more looks from below. "Boring! Guess I'll have to go and make my own fun. Stupid Shangy and his boring tournament." With this said, she leaped off of the wall and left the area.

* * *

One of the people from below that had noticed her as she ranted and left was the thunder god Raiden, currently designated protector of Earthrealm. He continued to stare at the position Tira had been sitting in for several seconds after she left, drawing Lu Kang's attention.

"Master? What is wrong?"

"I sense a disturbance. There is something about that woman...something that tells me she does not belong here."

"On the island?"

"More then that. I must meditate on this."

* * *

Tira spent the next hour or so wandering around aimlessly as she explored and attempted to entertain herself. It was around this point she came across a hidden cave, and unsurprisingly the bored girl entered to see what was within. Inside the cave was a large series of cages that very much reminded Tira of a castle dungeon. Most of the cages sat empty, save the occasional bone or puddle of blood. However, as she neared the end, she heard sounds of breathing coming from one cage.

"Ohh, someone's inside! Yay!" She sprinted over to the cage, looking inside to see a very bloody and tough looking African American man. She waved at him with a smile. "Ohh, goody, I'm not going to be bored anymore! Hi there!"

He opened his eyes slowly, and it was a testament to how injured he was that he did not react much to her. "Oh, great. Another freak here to torture me. Just my luck."

Tira did not react to being called a freak well, and she suddenly leaped against the cage bars, grabbing them in anger. **"Who the hell are you calling a freak!? I was going to kill you quick because I haven't had much of a chance to kill anything yet here, but now I'm going to make you bleed and scream and beg before I put you out of your misery."**

Then a voice sounded from behind her. "Not on my watch, you're not." Tira quickly turned around to see Sonya Blade approaching her.

"No….Sonya, run…" The man, Jackson, said from behind Tira

 **"Ohh, good, good, someone else who wants to die! I really need to make up for today's sitting around doing nothing, so the more the merrier!"** She spun her blade around before taking her combat position. **"Come on then, come and…"**

Tira was interrupted as Sonya aimed and fired her wrist blaster, firing a purple energy pulse out of it and directly impacting the completely unprepared Tira, who was sent flying to the ground.

"Owwie..." she said, not moving.

"You people talk too much. I'm getting you out of there!" She aimed again and fired her blaster, blowing the cage apart. She knelt down to look over his wounds. "Damn, it's worse than I thought. Can you walk? I should be able to..."

Sonya, in turn, was interrupted as Tira got up off the ground and snuck up behind her, grabbing her by her hair and smashing her face into the ground.

 **"Stupid goddamn blonde whore! I'm going to rip this guy apart and force feed you his fingers before I kill you!"** Tira then smashed her face into the ground again, and ripped off the wrist device she had been shot with earlier, smashing it with her blade before throwing her backward out of the cell, leaving Sonya stunned. Jackson attempted to get to his feet to stop Tira.

"Get your hands off of her, you..." a foot to the face stopped him and knocked him flat on his back, and Tira quickly jumped on top of his chest, now laughing.

"Silly man, why don't you take a nap, ok?" She then spun her blade on her arm and brought it down on Jackson's right arm, cutting through it and completely removing it, accompanied by his loud screams. She then repeated the process with the left arm. However, before she could do the same to other body parts, a loud crack drew her attention as a sudden lightning bolt struck outside the cell, and Raiden appeared.

"Enough. Cease your attack at once." Tira leaped off of the man and started walking toward Raiden, frowning.

"Ohh, that was a really funny way to walk in! How'd you do that, mister...?"

"I am Raiden. And who are you to so brazenly attack the champions of Earthrealm?"

"I'm Tira! I just wanted to have some fun! I was so bored today at that kombat thingy."

"Is that so..." He asked, crossing his arms. "Attacking injured prisoners is your idea of fun?"

"Sure it is! Ohh, but you look tough too! You could be fun to kill! I wanna try!" Without any other warning, Tira attempted to slash at Raiden, only for him to vanish in another thunderbolt strike, causing her to cover her face due to the close range. This gave her no time to react as he reappeared behind her and grabbed her, sending lighting through her body and causing her to scream in pain as the lightning sent her to the ground for real this time and knocked her out.


	6. Chapter 5: Failures

Well, it's been...some time since I last posted something here. To explain briefly the long gap in time, a number of factors forced me to more or less abandon this. I was unhappy with the last chapter I wrote, didn't feel like it was terribly good, and I had no real ideas for where to go from there. In addition, events in real life took a turn which caused me to have to focus on other things. I cannot guarantee regular updates, but I have ideas for how to bypass some of the issues I was having before storywise. So hopefully I'll get a chapter out every once in a while.

* * *

Chapter 5: Failures

 _She sat in a large, cold, dark cell. She could never recall how old she had been, but it must have been at some point before her 5_ _th_ _birthday. The girl had lived on the streets as long as she remembered, never having any parents to speak of. Forced on her own, she had managed to preserve her meager life in a world that cared nothing for her. Then, without warning, she had found herself with a large sack over her head. Her attempts to yell in surprise and panic were quickly stifled by the herbs in said bag, which made her sleepy and prevented her from offering any resistance. Without a word, they had tossed her into a cell with 7 other children._

 _They sat in silence, for the most part. Being too afraid to attempt to speak to each other. One of them had been sick at the time he was taken, and the cell did his condition no favors, a situation that was further exacerbated by the fact that their captors did not see fit to feed them. In time, he was the first to die. When this happened, the cell door opened, and his body was removed from the cell, and replaced with a large amount of food for the remainder. Once they had all eaten their fill, the food was removed, and then the cycle continued. No food was seen again until another died of starvation. As more food was brought in and the body removed, the message their captors were attempting to instill became very, very clear._

 _Kill, or starve._

* * *

Tira woke up slowly, her head still in serious pain from the blow that had knocked her out.

"Owwie...that wasn't fair!"

As she looked around, she found she was no longer where she was when she was knocked out, having apparently at some point been moved to Shang Tsung's tower room, where she had met him before. With little to look at that she cared about, she started talking to her other half.

"I don't get it, how did we get back here?"

" **The old man probably found us and dragged us back. I can't, however, say why that thunder man didn't finish us. If we encounter him again, we'll need to be more cautious."**

"Awwww, but I wanna kill him! I wanna know if he bleeds thunder too!"

" **That's the stupidest thing you've said today, no one bleeds thunder, what kind of goddamned moron-"**

Gloomy's rant was interrupted as a portal appeared in the room, and a very annoyed looking Shang Tsung entered.

"Worthless, incomptant fools! To think an earthrealmer managed to defeat him..."

"Hi, Shangy!" Tira said loudly, waving at him.

"And you!" He said, rounding on Tira "Idiot girl, what did you think to gain from attacking the god of thunder?"

" **God of thunder?"** Tira asked as her eyelids fell. **"Don't be absurd, gods don't exist."**

"You were just knocked out by a man who shot thunder from his hands, and who I had to personally stop from finishing the job. Perhaps it is best that you do not speak of things which you clearly have no idea about. Regardless, your failure rendered me unable to utilize you when I needed, and now Earthrealm has emerged victorious. In the future, you are to avoid conflict with him at all times."

This seemed to piss Tira off, and she proceeded to suddenly grab Shang Tsung and throw him against a wall, placing her ring blade under his chin, pressing it against the skin. Shang Tsung, for his part, did not seem to be resisting.

" **Let me be clear. I don't serve you, I don't respect you, I don't even like your old ass. And I won't sit here and be ordered around by you."**

"You wish to challenge him again, by all means, do so, but I will not come to save you next time. And as much as you may dislike you, you cannot kill me, not without stranding yourself in this time. There are very few men in all the realms with the skill in magic necessary to understand exactly what happened to bring you here, and fewer still who could reverse it. For the time being, if you wish to return, you will need me alive."

Tira continued to glare in anger for a moment, then let him go.

"Good. Now then, we must be off."

"Oh, where we going? Is it somewhere more fun then this place?"

"We go to Outworld, seat of power of the warlord Shao Kahn. I have little doubt you will find plenty of your brand of entertainment there." He turned and summoned a portal. "If you would follow me." Waving her along, he stepped through the portal, Tira following a moment after.

They emerged in front of a truly colossal fortress, one that dwarfed even the mightiest castles that Tira had been familiar with. Giant, 40 foot walls stretched nearly a mile in each direction. The doors were so large and tough looking that it seemed even a giant would have difficulty breaking them down. As for the land itself, the ground was an unnatural looking brown color, almost as if she was standing in a wasteland, and the sky was a deep, dark purple, without any hint of an actual sun. Tira was so stricken by the sights that she failed to notice what was going on until Shang Tsung grunted in pain as a giant man with 4 arms, each almost as large as a whole human body, punched him and brought him to his knees.

"Wow, that looked like it hurt, mr!" Tira said as she walked forward. "Why you punching Shangy? Can I join in?"

The guard gave Tira a dirty look, then looked at Shang Tsung. "Sorcerer. Explain why you have brought an Earthrealmer here."

"Shao Kahn will wish to speak with her."

"Why?"

"That is for his ears alone."

The guard snorted. "Assuming he leaves you your tongue. You have much to answer for. Bring him."

Another guard reached over and grabbed him.

"And you, his...guest, will follow us."

"Ok!" Tira said, clearly looking forward to seeing Shang Tsung get beaten more. The group was lead through the front yards, where various troops of Outworld were being drilled, and into the massive palace. After walking through a seemingly endless laberanth of identical looking hallways, they reached the massive doors of the throne room. The guards dragged Shang Tsung in, but when Tira made to follow, a guard threw her backward, causing her to land on her butt.

"Ow! What's the big idea?"

"You will wait outside."

"But I wanna see him get beat up! It'll be really funny!"

"Shao Kahn's orders are absolute."

Another voice spoke up from behind her. "Probably best you don't go in there right now, lass. Kahny's in a really pissed off mood, and when he's angry, he tends to take it out on anyone in arm's reach."

Tira turned to face them, and found herself met with an odd looking man, whose face was normal on one half, and made of metal on the other half. Said man was busy smoking a cigar and sharpening his knife as he leaned on a nearby wall.

"Ain't seen you around here before, and I'd damn sure remember seeing someone looking like you do. Who're you?"

"I'm Tira!" Tira said happily. "But mr, you have a really funny looking face, what happened?"

"Some bloke tried to kill me with a bomb. Nearly finished the job, but I knew a few people, they hooked me up with some new cybernetics, and hey, I can shoot lasers from my eye now, so who am I to complain?"

The use of so many words Tira did not know naturally confused her, and she found herself scratching her head. "Er...what's, er, a bomb? And cybyetics? And lasers?"

Kano tilted his head. "What, you ain't from Earthrealm? Never heard of that shit?"

"No, I-"

Suddenly, the throne room doors reopened, and a stern looking woman with a blue facemask on stepped outside.

"You there, earthrealmer, you are Tira, correct? My father, Shao Kahn, awaits you inside."

Tira turned back to Kano for a moment. "Oh, I have to go, you can explain later, ok?"

"Sure, sure, I'll be around somewhere."

Tira turned to enter the throne room, but the woman took a moment to glare at him. "Don't you have more important things to be doing then standing around, mercenary?"

"Get off my back, you ain't Shao Kahn. I'll get done, don't you worry your pretty head."

With a scoff, she turned and reentered the room, the doors slamming shut behind them.


End file.
